MetaFilter posts tagged with 1960shttp://www.metafilter.com/tags/1960s
Posts tagged with '1960s' at MetaFilter.Tue, 17 Mar 2015 05:39:34 -0800Tue, 17 Mar 2015 05:39:34 -0800en-ushttp://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss60The Mid Century Menu, as seen in cookbooks and brochureshttp://www.metafilter.com/148026/The%2DMid%2DCentury%2DMenu%2Das%2Dseen%2Din%2Dcookbooks%2Dand%2Dbrochures
<em>Have you ever looked at a recipe in a mid-century cookbook and thought, “Ew. That is so nasty.” But you couldn’t stop looking at the recipe. Or thinking about it. As time went on, you kept going back to the book, thinking, “I wonder what it tastes like?”</em>
Then the <a href="http://www.midcenturymenu.com/">Mid-Century Menu</a> is for you. And so is: <a href="http://www.midcenturymenu.com/2015/02/barbecue-bean-mold-a-mid-century-recipe-re-run/">Barbecue Bean Jello Mold</a>. <a href="http://www.midcenturymenu.com/2012/05/spaghetti-subs-a-retro-recipe-test/">Spaghetti Subs</a>. <a href="http://www.midcenturymenu.com/2013/07/candied-crackers-a-mid-century-recipe-test/">Candied Crackers</a>. Oh, and <a href="http://www.midcenturymenu.com/2014/03/hearty-corned-beef-salad-a-mid-century-st-patricks-day-recipe-test/">Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!</a> RetroRuth and her husband (or a guest blogger) pick one recipe a week, photograph the cooking process and the end results, do a taste test, and report back. Sometimes the dishes <a href="http://www.midcenturymenu.com/2013/09/apple-cider-upside-down-cake-from-the-archivesagain/">are good</a>. Sometimes <a href="http://www.midcenturymenu.com/2014/05/mid-century-guest-test-saturday-shrimp-mold-or-ptsd-on-a-platter/">they are horrifying.</a> tag:metafilter.com,2015:site.148026Tue, 17 Mar 2015 05:39:34 -0800julenDeep in my heart, I do believehttp://www.metafilter.com/147990/Deep%2Din%2Dmy%2Dheart%2DI%2Ddo%2Dbelieve
<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/15/opinion/sunday/birth-of-a-freedom-anthem.html?_r=1">Birth of a Freedom Anthem</a>: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMYbd2ZhhjE">We</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJUkOLGLgwg"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJUkOLGLgwg">Shall</a></a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmR1YvfIGng">Overcome</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkNsEH1GD7Q">We</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aor6-DkzBJ0">Shall</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_qKAzxT6bg">Overcome</a>. tag:metafilter.com,2015:site.147990Mon, 16 Mar 2015 06:58:50 -0800flapjax at midniteCBS brings you ....SUSPENSE!http://www.metafilter.com/147877/CBS%2Dbrings%2Dyou%2DSUSPENSE
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suspense_%28radio_drama%29">Suspense</a> was a thriller-style radio drama that ran on CBS from 1942 to 1962 and is widely considered to be one of the greatest Old Time Radio (or "Golden Age Of Radio") series and model for "The Twilight Zone". In addition to theme music by Bernard Herrmann and scripts by leading mystery authors of the day, Suspense also featured a stunning roll call of big-name Hollywood stars, often playing against type or in more lurid material then the movie studios would allow.
While <a href="https://archive.org/details/OTRR_Suspense_Singles">nearly all 947 episodes are available online</a> (<a href="http://www.metafilter.com/84459/Old-Time-Radio-Revival-Roundup">exhaustively comprehensive previously</a>) the sheer number of episodes can be daunting. <a href="http://www.oldtimeradioreview.com/suspense.html">Old Time Radio Review is halfway through the series</a> with <a href="http://www.oldtimeradioreview.com/suspense---5-stars.html">a convenient rating system to finding the best</a> - why not enjoy these Youtube versions of a few episodes starring <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hhJAHHwY9w&index=6&list=PLJm2etPj4-MZe448obwCpovv_3oi2qod4">Judy Garland</a>,<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ifcm_pHXsSc"> Lucille Ball</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TntXOypPMd4&index=2&list=PLJm2etPj4-MZe448obwCpovv_3oi2qod4">Robert Taylor</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_vGz_Jbn54&index=5&list=PLJm2etPj4-MZe448obwCpovv_3oi2qod4">Orson Wells</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uDmNc8j9gA&index=1&list=PLJm2etPj4-MZe448obwCpovv_3oi2qod4">Agnes Moorehead</a> (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYIs5nbxg1s">again</a>), <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJwvxYPgSxY&index=3&list=PLJm2etPj4-MZe448obwCpovv_3oi2qod4">Cary Grant</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJm2etPj4-MZe448obwCpovv_3oi2qod4">and more</a> tag:metafilter.com,2015:site.147877Thu, 12 Mar 2015 14:05:42 -0800The Whelk"He used to really get on my tits."http://www.metafilter.com/147690/He%2Dused%2Dto%2Dreally%2Dget%2Don%2Dmy%2Dtits
<a href="http://youtu.be/qMqJ8VzomP8">Sibling Rivalry Made The Kinks</a> [SLYT] tag:metafilter.com,2015:site.147690Sat, 07 Mar 2015 07:08:09 -0800joseph conrad is fully awesomeInside Woodstock with organizer Michael Langhttp://www.metafilter.com/146051/Inside%2DWoodstock%2Dwith%2Dorganizer%2DMichael%2DLang
<a href="http://www.mojo4music.com/5282/inside-woodstock-with-organiser-michael-lang/">An interview with Michael Lang, organizer of the 1969 Woodstock festival.</a> tag:metafilter.com,2015:site.146051Mon, 12 Jan 2015 18:00:03 -0800paleyellowwithorange"She placed an order on the spot – and not a conservative one."http://www.metafilter.com/145522/She%2Dplaced%2Dan%2Dorder%2Don%2Dthe%2Dspot%2Dand%2Dnot%2Da%2Dconservative%2Done
"Though there were manufacturers in several parts of the United States, the great preponderance of commercially-made aluminum trees were created by the Aluminum Specialty Company of Manitowoc, Wisconsin. When their 'Evergleam' line debuted in 1959, many embraced the shiny trees as an expression of the new Atomic Age. The trees appealed to a Jetsons-style notion of modern living where life was clean, automated and easy; with an aluminum tree, needles never fell, it could be stored compactly and re-used every year, with none of the fuss of a real tree." <i>Etsy</i>: <a href="https://blog.etsy.com/en/2013/history-lessons-the-aluminum-christmas-tree/">History Lesson: The Aluminum Christmas Tree</a>, by Jeni Sandberg. <a href="http://wuwm.com/post/remember-aluminum-trees-wisconsin-made-evergleams-are-making-comeback">Remember Aluminum Trees? Wisconsin-Made Evergleams Are Making a Comeback</a> (<i>WUWM, Milwaukee</i>)
<blockquote>"Exactly what the buyer wanted and we took it to New York for the toy show. The first person I worked with was from Minneapolis, and it was a woman buyer and she loved it," [Jerry] Waak says.
"She placed an order on the spot &ndash; and not a conservative one. 'And I'll tell you, at that time, with our toy line where we were selling and item for $1 or $2 or $3; a $25,000 order was big,' he adds. Her order was for $50,000.</blockquote>
<a href="http://www.retrokimmer.com/2010/11/1960s-aluminum-christmas-trees.html">1960's Aluminum Christmas Trees!</a>, <i>RetroKimmer</i> &ndash; <i>"They are a very striking gorgeous, shiny symbol of the space age and in fact on television they were called 'Space Age Christmas Trees' in the commercials."</i>
<a href="http://goretro.blogspot.com/2010/12/christmas-comeback-kid-aluminum.html">Christmas Comeback Kid: The Aluminum Christmas Tree</a> &ndash; <i>Go Retro</i> &ndash; <i>"Evergleam was popular for its 'pom pom' trees which featured feathery pom poms or bursts on the ends of the branches."</i>
<a href="http://www.christmastreemarket.com/History-of-the-Christmas-Tree-Origin-Infographic-s/311.htm">Visual History of Christmas Trees</a> (an infographic, <i>Christmas Tree Market</i>)
Bonus link: <a href="http://www.charlesphoenix.com/12_15_05_flocked_tree_1955/">Pink Flocked Christmas Tree, Alcoa Aluminum Company, Los Angeles, 1955</a> (<i>"The centerpiece is unlike any Christmas tree I've ever had the joy of seeing. It’s not only flocked, it’s flocked in two-tone pink. The higher it goes the pinker it gets! Christmas inspires so much creativity."</i>) tag:metafilter.com,2014:site.145522Sun, 21 Dec 2014 17:21:20 -0800joseph conrad is fully awesomeFriday Fun... with a twisthttp://www.metafilter.com/145486/Friday%2DFun%2Dwith%2Da%2Dtwist
It's finally Friday, and I feel like celebrating with a smooth grooving' <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8wEORnZxdg">twist</a>... and a little mashed potato and a little... <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8wEORnZxdg">If you don't do it, you're just considered out.</a>
<a href="http://youtu.be/im9XuJJXylw?list=RDim9XuJJXylw">... and go like this!</a>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPj3SJcx0Wc">Oh Rob!
</a>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0jy4ipLj9Y">Twistin' (and more) with the Kang!</a>
<a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xzss0i_edoardo-vianello-guarda-come-dondolo_music">They're doin' it in Italy!</a> (if you can get past the ads, it's worth it).
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJi-AOVuGvo">They're doin' it in France!</a>
<a href="http://youtu.be/7KZAR49iveg?list=PLAJWYpglzUukW-BCKfi-Y6c7IqBPnnu1T">They're doing it in Scotland.. and they won't stop!</a>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bAMQVD1He0">Even in Japan -- though without music, apparently.
</a>
<a href="http://youtu.be/NDafl5_ZHVE?list=PLE2D666ACA4D6F0EA">You can do it too!</a> tag:metafilter.com,2014:site.145486Fri, 19 Dec 2014 15:00:41 -0800ecorrocioAndy, why are you making these films? It's easier to do than painting.http://www.metafilter.com/145104/Andy%2Dwhy%2Dare%2Dyou%2Dmaking%2Dthese%2Dfilms%2DIts%2Deasier%2Dto%2Ddo%2Dthan%2Dpainting
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DS7knWefSiQ">The Making of an Underground Film</a> , originally broadcast on CBS News with Walter Cronkite on New Years' Eve 1965, begins with reporter <a href="http://www.sbu.edu/support-sbu/advancement-news/2012/10/05/from-st.-bonaventure-to-cbs-news-and-back-again">Dave Dugan</a> saying, "Not everyone digs underground movies, but those who do can dig 'em here." in front of the <a href="http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/view-of-the-audience-as-they-arrive-at-the-bridge-theatre-news-photo/510423121">Bridge Theatre</a> in New York City's Greenwich Village. An interview with avant-garde filmmaker and exhibitor <a href="http://jonasmekas.com/diary/">Jonas Mekas</a> then segues into footage of the making of <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0409899/?ref_=fn_tt_tt_8">Dirt</a> by filmmaker/poet <a href="http://tomraworth.com/pierosite/ph.html">Piero Heliczer</a>, as a pre-<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nico">Nico</a> incarnation of <a href="http://olivier.landemaine.free.fr/vu/">the Velvet Underground</a> (with both <a href="http://www.vice.com/read/moe-tuckers-snapshots-of-the-velvet-underground">Maureen Tucker</a> <em>and</em> original percussionist <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/06/arts/music/angus-maclise-of-velvet-underground-in-dreamweapon.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0">Angus MacLise</a>) plays silently in costume in the background. Other highlights include interviews with <a href="http://dangerousminds.net/comments/andy_warhol_and_edie_sedgwick_on_the_merv_griffin_show_1965">Andy Warhol and Edie Sedgwick</a>, plus the uninterrupted airing of a <a href="http://www.fredcamper.com/Film/BrakhageL.html">Stan Brakhage</a> film <a href="http://www.thing.net/~grist/l&d/mcclure/mc-brak.htm">in tribute to poet Michael McClure</a>. tag:metafilter.com,2014:site.145104Sat, 06 Dec 2014 09:21:27 -0800jonp72RIP Jack Bruce, 1943-2014http://www.metafilter.com/143910/RIP%2DJack%2DBruce%2D1943%2D2014
<a href="http://www.jackbruce.com/">Jack</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Bruce">Bruce</a>, best known as bass player and vocalist for 60s supergroup <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cream_%28band%29">Cream</a> has <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-29772926">died of liver disease at the age of 71</a>. Jack Bruce's music career spanned over 5 decades. He began his professional career 1962 as a member of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rytyg6sdIGQ">Blues Incorporated</a> with Alexis Korner, Dick Heckstall-Smith, Graham Bond and Ginger Baker. He continued on with Graham Bond in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6okZU9O2n1E">The Graham Bond Organisation</a>. Subsequently, Bruce had brief sojourns in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOvtqmqBiiM">Manfred Mann</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8njZyzflOs">John Mayall's Bluesbreakers</a>.
In 1966, Bruce joined fellow Bluesbreaker Eric Clapton, and frequent former bandmate (and nemesis) Ginger Baker to form the primal blues-rock power trio, Cream -- so named because they believed themselves to be the "cream" of the British music crop. Cream lasted a little over 2 years but left behind a highly influential body of work, including the classic singles <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbqQL0J_Vr0">Sunshine of Your Love</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkae0-TgrRU">White Room</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BGlFsf9DM8">Tales of Brave Ulysses</a>. They were particularly known for their live performances which featured long solos by all three members and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ym7Lsqj90c">songs often exceeding ten minutes.</a>
Some post-Cream career highlights:
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLtrg-3ahrU">Songs For a Tailor</a>, his first solo album.
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAKhoPagSLI&list=PL878098F1B19088C5">Things We Like</a>, a collaboration with John McLaughlin, Dick Heckstall-Smith, and Jon Hiseman.
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDjz9BzJ4cM">Tony Williams Lifetime</a>, again with John McLaughlin, as well as Larry Young and of course Tony Williams.
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0njefXUVvX4">West Bruce and Laing</a>.
Collaborations with <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiPQQe_4Ves">Mick Taylor</a>,
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oN_RiY2-suc">Robin Trower,</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OcOTzVARDA">Gary Moore and Ginger Baker</a>, and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yv2pBYiS-04">Rory Gallagher</a>.
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iF-pMingp6A&list=PL72C23EF77CEADE68">Cream Reunion Concerts in 2005</a> tag:metafilter.com,2014:site.143910Sat, 25 Oct 2014 10:35:29 -0800wabbittwaxThat New Costume Smellhttp://www.metafilter.com/143861/That%2DNew%2DCostume%2DSmell
If you were a child in the <a href="http://mentalfloss.com/article/59428/15-halloween-costumes-1970s">70s</a> who dreamed of being <a href="http://13thdimension.com/happy-halloween-the-10-most-questionable-ben-cooper-costumes-on-ebay/">Boss Hogg</a> or an <a href="http://retropotamus.blogspot.com/2013/04/halloween-1980.html">80s</a> baby desperate to be a <a href="http://www.weirdretro.org.uk/plastic-fantastic-ben-cooper-halloween-costumes.html">Rubik’s Cube</a>, your dream could come true for less than <a href="http://www.longisland70skid.com/ben-cooper/">$5</a>. For that was the <a href="http://mercurie.blogspot.com/2012/10/ben-cooper-inc-its-competitors-folks.html">Golden Age</a> of <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/life/culturebox/2013/10/ben_cooper_costumes_how_the_popular_plastic_outfits_reinvented_halloween.html">Ben</a> <a href="http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20074930,00.html">Cooper</a> and <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1989/10/15/business/the-weird-the-bad-and-the-scary.html">Collegeville Costume</a>. Relive their glory days by perusing some vintage catalogs. Collegeville: <a href="http://monstermasks.blogspot.com/2012/05/1966-collegeville-costumes-catalog.html">1966</a>, <a href="http://www.plaidstallions.com/collegeville/1974.html">1974</a>, <a href="http://monstermasks.blogspot.com/2014/03/1975-collegeville-costumes-catalog.html">1975</a>, <a href="http://monstermasks.blogspot.com/2013/09/1976-collegeville-costumes-catalog.html">1976</a>, <a href="http://plaidstallions.blogspot.com/2011/10/1981-collegeville-costume-catalog.html">1981</a>, <a href="http://www.plaidstallions.com/collegeville/1983.html">1983</a>, <a href="http://monstermasks.blogspot.com/2012/07/1992-collegeville-imagineering-catalog.html">1992</a>
Ben Cooper: <a href="http://www.plaidstallions.com/bencooper/1973.html">1973</a>, <a href="http://plaidstallions.com/bencooper/index.html">1980</a>, <a href="http://www.plaidstallions.com/bencooper/1981.html">1981</a>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/22686070@N08/sets/72157609652753603/">More photos</a>
<a href="http://www.universalmonsterarmy.com/forum/index.php?topic=2270.0">Halco</a> costumes also deserve a mention, though they don’t seem to inspire as much nostalgia. Perhaps because they licensed less popular characters like <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/toyranch/sets/72057594049663073/">Chitty Chitty Bang Bang</a> and <a href="http://mistertoast.blogspot.com/2007/10/halco-halloween-costumes.html">The Heinz Pickle</a>. tag:metafilter.com,2014:site.143861Thu, 23 Oct 2014 10:52:35 -0800jrossi4rMad for Ads? Add Ads to Madhttp://www.metafilter.com/143612/Mad%2Dfor%2DAds%2DAdd%2DAds%2Dto%2DMad
<a href="http://madison.nytimes.com">Madison</a> is a new Vintage Ad archive from the New York Times. "<a href="http://adage.com/article/media/york-times-rolls-archive-vintage-print-ads/295397/">But the Times is inviting readers to do more than just view the ads.</a> It's also asking readers to help shape the archive by sifting through the ads, identifying them and even transcribing their text." Of course, no crowdsourcing project would be complete these days without a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamification">gamification</a> element, so they show progress and award titles as you go along. Currently all Ads are from the 60's but more decades will be added eventually. <small><a href="https://gigaom.com/2014/10/14/nyt-asks-readers-to-help-identify-print-ads-also-launches-platform-for-crowdsourcing-called-hive/">Further Reading</a> if you've used up your AdAge links this month.</small> tag:metafilter.com,2014:site.143612Wed, 15 Oct 2014 05:23:11 -0800FreezBoyIf it ain't broke, break it: the unspoken motto of The Kinkshttp://www.metafilter.com/143401/If%2Dit%2Daint%2Dbroke%2Dbreak%2Dit%2Dthe%2Dunspoken%2Dmotto%2Dof%2DThe%2DKinks
<a href="http://consequenceofsound.net/2014/10/dusting-em-off-the-kinks-the-kinks/">"HH [Henry Hauser]: Ryan and Nina are right on target. The Ray-Dave sibling rivalry sparked many of The Kinks' most spontaneous (and brilliant) musical moments.</a> <i>The Storyteller</i>, Ray's riveting account of early life in the Davies household and his band’s rise to prominence, has him describing how he and Dave exchanged scornful looks while recording "You Really Got Me". The elder Davies swears that if you listen closely, you can actually hear Dave yelling "Fuckkkoffff" right before his guitar solo. Ray salvaged the track by covering up Dave's profane exclamation with his own unscripted outburst ("Owwwww noooooo!"), and the impromptu rock scream turned into one of the most memorable quirks in Kinks history. It perfectly captures the animalistic agony that accompanies hopeless infatuation. Without the Ray-Dave rivalry, it would never have happened."<br>
<br>
Henry Hauser, Ryan Bray, Nina Corcoran, and Stevie Dunbar at <i>Consequence of Sound</i> hold a round-table discussion in "<a href="http://consequenceofsound.net/2014/10/dusting-em-off-the-kinks-the-kinks/">Dusting 'Em Off: The Kinks &ndash; The Kinks</a>". From 2011, "<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/sep/30/really-kinks-nick-hasted-review">You Really Got Me: The Story of the Kinks by Nick Hasted &ndash; review</a>" by Alex Needham for <i>The Guardian</i>:
<blockquote>Thoughout their career, the band's motto seems to have been "if it ain't broke, break it". As Hasted's book makes clear, their most dramatic disasters have been self-inflicted. A 1965 Cardiff gig almost ended in decapitation when drummer Mick Avory threw a cymbal at Dave Davies's head after being informed by the guitarist that "your drumming's shit &ndash; they'd sound better if you played them with your cock". Three years later, Ray's refusal to hand over the sublime album <i><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2010/apr/03/suburbia-pop-betjeman-john-harris">Village Green Preservation Society</a></i> to the record company on time ensured that it tanked.
The Kinks only seemed to feel at home on a sinking ship. After "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ixqbc7X2NQY">Lola</a>" returned them to the charts in the early 70s after a series of flops, and it was followed by another hit, "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEep67akIn4">Apeman</a>", the Davies brothers were positively displeased to find themselves back on <i>Top of the Pops</i>. "It did have that smell of: 'Oh blimey, not that again,'" Dave Davies tells Hasted. Happily, several catastrophes were around the corner, entertainingly detailed here &ndash; though the Kinks did become huge in America in the 70s and 80s, something often overlooked by British fans, who always associate them with their 60s run of era-defining singles, from "<a href="http://youtu.be/S7ffgqjcH40">You Really Got Me</a>" to "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzpShIhvrjU">Days</a>".</blockquote>
Bonus link: "<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/aug/28/ray-davies-denies-kinks-reform-2015-dave-davies">Ray Davies denies Kinks will reform 'with or without' Dave Davies</a>" &ndash; Sean Michaels for <i>The Guardian</i>, August 28, 2014.
Previously on MetaFilter (self-link): <a href="http://www.metafilter.com/78335/Long-live-the-the-Village-Green-and-the-Mellotron">Long live the the Village Green &ndash; and the Mellotron</a> tag:metafilter.com,2014:site.143401Tue, 07 Oct 2014 17:53:18 -0800joseph conrad is fully awesome"I once loved a girl..." - Suze and The Twerphttp://www.metafilter.com/142188/I%2Donce%2Dloved%2Da%2Dgirl%2DSuze%2Dand%2DThe%2DTwerp
<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/aug/16/biography.bobdylan">Tomorrow is a long time</a><br>
<a href="http://www.slow-life.co.uk/suze-and-the-twerp/">Suze and The Twerp</a><br>
<a href="http://folkfanlcb89.tripod.com/plaind.html">Ballad In Plain D &ndash; Bob and Suze</a><br>
<a href="http://museinspire.blogspot.com/2010/09/we-were-both-overly-sensitive-and.html">We were both overly sensitive and needed shelter from the storm</a><br>
Previously: <a href="http://www.metafilter.com/100993/I-gave-her-my-heart-but-she-wanted-my-soul">I gave her my heart, but she wanted my soul</a> tag:metafilter.com,2014:site.142188Sun, 24 Aug 2014 17:41:33 -0800joseph conrad is fully awesome"Older respondents reported hopping on railway cars and stealing gin"http://www.metafilter.com/141700/Older%2Drespondents%2Dreported%2Dhopping%2Don%2Drailway%2Dcars%2Dand%2Dstealing%2Dgin
<a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/life/family/2014/08/slate_childhood_survey_results_kids_today_have_a_lot_less_freedom_than_their.single.html">The shortening leash on American children:</a> <em>We heard a lot about sneaking out, petty theft, amateur arson, drugs, and sexual experimentation from our older respondents. But as time passes, the picture of childhood looks a lot less wild and reckless and a lot more monitored. We asked parents how they would react if they caught their kids doing what they had done as kids. A typical response: "I'd probably freak out and turn my home into a prison."</em> tag:metafilter.com,2014:site.141700Wed, 06 Aug 2014 12:26:28 -0800scodyNew York Girl Wins Kangaroo, Her Firsthttp://www.metafilter.com/141671/New%2DYork%2DGirl%2DWins%2DKangaroo%2DHer%2DFirst
<a href="http://www.campaignbrief.com/2012/08/the-world-according-to-gossage.html">Long before</a> Mad Men, Forrest Gump, and coast-to-coast classic rock FM stations completed the transubstantiation of the 1960s from reality to legend, something stranger than fiction was burning the midnight oil in an old firehouse: <a href="http://theglenngroup.com/about/blog/ad-legends-part-1">The Socrates of San Francisco</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Gossage">Howard Luck Gossage</a>, would change advertising--and the way we think about communication--forever. Gossage's style--<a href="http://blog.nextdayflyers.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Gossage2.jpg">idiosyncratic</a>, <a href="http://www.adbuzz.com/earthday/images/GossageCanyon1.jpg">wordy</a>, and often <a href="http://www.adbuzz.com/OLD/GossageGallery/pink1.jpg">outrageously funny</a>--can seem incredibly foreign, almost quaint, today. However, he's often regarded as one of the wisest and best ad men of them all ("the Velvet Underground to Ogilvy's Beatles and Bernbach's Stones").
Gossage's main rule--and his most commonly reproduced quote--was that "nobody reads ads. People read what interests them, and sometimes, it's an ad." Dashingly handsome and intensely charismatic, he had plenty of clients--so many, in fact, that he often <a href="http://www.theawsc.com/2013/06/05/review-changing-the-world-is-the-only-fit-work-for-a-grown-man/">turned business down</a> in order to keep his agency small.
Gossage's ads, to better demonstrate reader engagement, often had a clip-and-send coupon for a giveaway or prize, which could range from the <a href="http://www.adbuzz.com/OLD/GossageGallery/EagleC.jpg">ridiculous</a> to the <a href="http://www.adbuzz.com/OLD/GossageGallery/Sweatshirt1">sublime</a> ... and back to the <a href="http://www.adbuzz.com/OLD/GossageGallery/Pink2contest.jpg">sublimely ridiculous</a>. It was a pattern he began with his first client, Qantas Airlines, which he won over with the kind of ad that made any magazine reader stop and take notice:
<a href="http://www.adbuzz.com/OLD/GossageGallery/Qantas1.jpg">Be The First One In Your Block To Win a Kangaroo!</a>
Later, another ad announced that there had been <a href="http://www.adbuzz.com/OLD/GossageGallery/Qantas2.jpg">not just one winner, but several</a>--"after all, it's that first kangaroo that's tough, the rest are easy."
Of course, Gossage wasn't all fun and games. While he wasn't<a href="http://www.burningsettlerscabin.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/larsen1.jpg"> cutting off an ad in mid-sentence</a>, only to <a href="http://www.bluefrogcreative.co.uk/.a/6a01156fed7f97970c016766b5d5cb970b-800wi">resume its ramble on the virtues of Irish whisky the very next issue</a>, he was campaigning to <a href="https://howardluckgossage.jux.com/1212169">make Marshall McLuhan famous</a>, or to <a href="http://blog.nextdayflyers.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Gossage1.jpg">prevent the Grand Canyon from being flooded</a>.
Not all his campaigns succeeded. A staunch opponent of outdoor advertising, which he saw as being involuntarily received rather than voluntarily engaged with, Gossage believed billboards had <a href="http://www.stayfreemagazine.org/admap/howardgossage.html">no right to exist</a>--and included a clippable coupon to send in, in case you thought so, too.
If you can't get enough Gossage, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1887229280/metafilter-20/ref=nosim/">two</a> fantastic <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0957151500/metafilter-20/ref=nosim/">books</a> will acquaint you with more of his ads and elegant, eloquent prose.
Gossage is also the man I named my very own username after, so I thought he'd make a suitable subject for my first post here after lurking for a decade with no username like a hungry ghost. Hi, Metafilter! It's great to finally meet you all. tag:metafilter.com,2014:site.141671Tue, 05 Aug 2014 13:43:55 -0800HowardLuckGossageCromagnon’s only album: a jumble of sounds, shouts, and one actual songhttp://www.metafilter.com/141348/Cromagnons%2Donly%2Dalbum%2Da%2Djumble%2Dof%2Dsounds%2Dshouts%2Dand%2Done%2Dactual%2Dsong
<em>Depending on one's point of view,</em> Orgasm <em>(later reissued as</em> <a href="http://www.discogs.com/Cromagnon-Untitled/master/53232">Cave Rock</a><em>) is either a ridiculously self-indulgent artifact of the '60s counterculture or an underground gem that was way ahead of its time -- and it's probably a little bit of both. The basic idea behind <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cromagnon_(band)">Cromagnon</a>, an obscure East Coast group led by vocalists Austin Grasmere and Brian Elliot, was psychedelic rock combined with the sticks and stones of prehistoric cavemen, as well as with traces of folk-rock; <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/album/cave-rock-mw0000619006">it's a bizarre concept, certainly, but at times, it works.</a></em> You can <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36Srmk7JYlI">hear the whole crazy album on YouTube</a>, or stick with the most song-like track (featuring bagpipes, tribal beats and some sort of scream-singing), <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPiO_G-DEHs">Caledonia, seen here with an unofficial video</a>. In the 1960s, Austin Grasmere and Brian Elliot were apparently successful multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriters who produced bubblegum pop, but they wanted to do something different, so they approached the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ESP-Disk">ESP-Disk record label</a>, whose motto, printed on every release, was "The artists alone decide what you will hear on their ESP-Disk".
They had a big concept, and ESP-Disk was behind it, and the result was <em>Orgasm</em>, <a href="http://www.dustedmagazine.com/reviews/5083">a jumble of rackety percussion, chants, shouts, moans, giggles, whispers, drones, found sounds, bizarre rituals, ethno-freak-outs and one actual song, “Caledonia,” a sort of metal bagpipe reel</a>, and the only album released by the weird collective known as Cromagnon. <a href="http://weirdestbandintheworld.com/2010/04/28/cromagnon/">The story was that Grasmere and Elliot contacted a hippie commune to record with a group of musicians known only as the “Connecticut Tribe” that may or may not have included future members of The Residents and Negativland</a>, which added a ton of mystique to the already bizarre album.
In 2002, the three surviving musicians involved with Cromagnon gave an interview with Connecticut radio station WXCI where they talked at length about the group, and the process of recording <em>Orgasm/Cave Rock</em>. Seven years later, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120313214639/http://lounge.espdisk.com/archives/338">someone shared a transcription of that interview on the ESP-Disk website</a>, finally clearing up rumors and myths around the recording. There was no hippie tribe, and no future members of The Residents or Negativland were involved, but Brian was a fan of Phil Spector's Wall of Sound, and there was really a bubblegum pop group, <a href="http://www.discogs.com/artist/3503708-Boss-Blues">The Boss Blues</a> (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftwP4KCLcmE">So, Go</a>/<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CU6qdegJDM">Before The Dawn</a>; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e59pbCYqwU0">Takin' Life Easy</a>/<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYnHtX8ggvM">Could It Be True</a>) behind the proto-no wave/noise rock/industrial rock. The group also included a member from the Connecticut garage pop band, <a href="http://www.60sgaragebands.com/bluebeats.html">the Blue Beats</a> (sample track: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mtOOnc8YXk">Extra Girl</a>).
Sadly, Cromagnon never went on tour, so the world never saw the giant, pulsing womb get incinerated by flame throwers on stage. Though there won't be a Cromagnon reunion tour, other bands have paid attention to the album, and the <a href="http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=2594">Japanese psych-kraut / free jazz / electro-droning waves band Ghost</a> covered <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZPZw3SlAvI">"Caledonia"</a> on their 2007 album, <a href="http://www.discogs.com/Ghost-In-Stormy-Nights/master/120088">In Stormy Nights</a>. tag:metafilter.com,2014:site.141348Sat, 26 Jul 2014 23:23:15 -0800filthy light thief“We want to make the rules, the theory”http://www.metafilter.com/140888/We%2Dwant%2Dto%2Dmake%2Dthe%2Drules%2Dthe%2Dtheory
<a href="http://sensesofcinema.com/2014/cteq/black-panthers-2/">In 1968, Agnès Varda was living in Los Angeles with her husband, director Jacques Demy, who was there to begin filming his first Hollywood film, Model Shop (1969).</a> Although initially hesitant about living in the United States, the couple quickly became caught up in the wave of dissent sweeping the country in the late 1960s. Indeed, amid the finger pointing in France about the perceived failure of the events of May ’68 to bring about revolution, many members of the French intelligentsia looked across the Atlantic for alternative models for political change. Varda became part of a growing contingent of French artists and intellectuals, including sociologists Edgar Morin and Jean-Fran&#0231;ois Revel, and writer Jean Genet, who were attracted to the ways in which cultural revolt, social criticism and political contestation were intertwined in the United States. These French thinkers were attracted to the expansiveness and creativity of the American counterculture as opposed to the political deadlock that many believed was the undoing of the events surrounding May ’68. A revolt against American hegemony was taking place within the United States itself, and many leftist French thinkers were enthralled. The Black Panther Party (BPP) embodied this new mixture of cultural and political rebellion. Varda would often travel from Los Angeles to Oakland, filming Black Panther meetings and demonstrations with a 16mm camera borrowed from student activists at the University of California, Berkeley. The resulting documentary, Black Panthers (1968), captures the complexity of the Party, with its blend of personal, domestic and international politics. The film opens with the words “Black is Honest and Beautiful” alongside footage from a rally to free Huey Newton, the co-founder and Minister of Defense of the BPP, who was in jail for the killing of Oakland police officer John Frey following a shoot-out after being pulled over in traffic. Varda’s camera focuses on the energy of the crowd – particularly the young children – clapping and dancing as the singer sings, “We didn’t come here on our free will/Our people was sold…. The truth about the whole thing, children, never been told.” He continues: “You got to get that starch and iron out of yo’ hair/Wigs and straightenin’ combs ain’t gonna get you nowhere.” Varda, in an off-screen voiceover, explains to her French audience: “This is neither a picnic nor a party in Oakland. It’s a political rally organized by the Black Panthers – black activists who are getting ready for the revolution.”
<a href="https://archive.org/details/Black.Panthers_Agnes.Varda_1968">Agn&#0232;s Varda﻿, Black Panthers (1968)</a> tag:metafilter.com,2014:site.140888Sun, 13 Jul 2014 16:44:23 -0800whyareyouatriangleWhere Have You Gone, Easily Recognized References?http://www.metafilter.com/140871/Where%2DHave%2DYou%2DGone%2DEasily%2DRecognized%2DReferences
"<a href="http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=1283">The Joe DiMaggio line was written right away in the beginning.</a> And I don't know why or where it came from. It seems so strange, like it didn't belong in that song and then, I don't know, it was so interesting to us that we just kept it. So it's one of the most well-known lines that I've ever written." <a href="http://www.shmoop.com/mrs-robinson/">An analysis of Simon and Garfunkel's 1968 hit</a>, "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs._Robinson">Mrs. Robinson</a>". First, here's <a href="http://youtu.be/HACxkr-8V3w">Paul Simon performing the song at the Yankees Stadium</a> (YT) in 1999, honoring Joe DiMaggio the month after his death. A link to the full song is at the end of this post.
<a href="http://www.shmoop.com/mrs-robinson/">Intro</a>
<blockquote>When Paul Simon began writing what would become the 1968 hit "Mrs. Robinson," he intended it to be a song about times past. But then he received a call from movie producer Mike Nichols, who asked Simon for some songs for his 1967 film <i>The Graduate</i>. Simon changed the title and the lyrics to fit the film's antagonist, and the song and the movie became two of the biggest hits of the 1960s.</blockquote>
<a href="http://www.shmoop.com/mrs-robinson/lyrics.html">Lyrics</a>
<blockquote><u>Quick Thought</u>
Paul Simon later explained that he meant to honor DiMaggio as "an American hero" at a time when "genuine heroes were in short supply."
<u>Deep Thought</u>
Paul Simon may have meant to honor DiMaggio, but he also selected the "Yankee Clipper" because of the number of syllables in his name. Simon's own baseball hero was Mickey Mantle, but this would have forced some awkward phrasing&mdash;"where have you gone, Mickey Ma-antle?" Nope, doesn't work.</blockquote>
<a href="http://www.shmoop.com/mrs-robinson/meaning.html">Meaning</a>
<blockquote>Hide it in a hiding place where no one ever goes.
Put it in your pantry with your cupcakes.
It's a little secret, just the Robinsons' affair.
Most of all you've got to hide it from the kids.
It's not completely clear to which secret the song refers. It could be the fact that Mrs. Robinson is an alcoholic and stuck in an empty marriage. Or maybe the lines refer to the premarital conception of her daughter. Perhaps drugs as well as alcohol are stashed in her pantry. Or maybe she's hiding the birth control pills that allow her to run cougar-wild.
Or perhaps the lines are meant to refer to all of these; alongside Mrs. Robinson's Betty Crocker cupcakes sit all of the secrets and dysfunctions of her generation's world. If Simon intended this more sweeping condemnation, he also made clear that the solution to all of this decadence lay in the past, not the future.</blockquote>
<a href="http://www.shmoop.com/mrs-robinson/technique.html">Technique</a>
<blockquote>Musically, "Mrs. Robinson" offers a nice example of how to add a mysterious edge to a campfire song. The chorus ("and here's to you, Mrs. Robinson") is built on standard major chords and strummed on acoustic guitars. The lyrics, at least during the first three trips through the chorus, are positive and filled with clich&eacute; phrasing: "and here's to you… Jesus loves you… God bless you… Heaven holds a place for those who pray." Simon even throws in the "woo, woo, woo"s and "hey, hey, hey"s that make for a nice sing-along.</blockquote>
<a href="http://www.shmoop.com/mrs-robinson/influences.html">Influences</a>
<blockquote>With careers lasting more than a half-century, Simon and Garfunkel's influences have evolved over time. They have identified the Everly Brothers, Bob Dylan, the Hilltoppers, the Four Aces, the Crewcuts, Little Richard, and Fats Domino as among their earliest influences.</blockquote>
Bonus:
A few more details about this song at <a href="http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=1283">Song Facts</a>, most interestingly, the following interpretation:
<blockquote>Simon began writing this as "Mrs. Roosevelt." He changed it to "Mrs. Robinson" for the movie. He may have written this about Eleanor Roosevelt. Some of the lyrics support this such as "We'd like to help you learn to help yourself. Look around you, all you see are sympathetic eyes" and "Going to the candidates debate. Laugh about it, shout about it. When you've got to choose. Every way you look at it, you lose." Roosevelt was a female rights and black rights activist, always helping everyone but herself during the Great Depression. A lot of the time she seemed to have been running the country as much as FDR, but never would have actually won the presidency because she was female.</blockquote>
<a href="http://www.allmusic.com/song/mrs-robinson-mt0027041516">All Music Guide's write-up</a> by Bill Janovitz.
<i>The New York Times</i> op-ed piece by Paul Simon shortly after DiMaggio's death: "<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/library/sports/baseball/dimaggio-simon-oped.html">The Silent Superstar</a>".
From <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Concert_in_Central_Park">The Concert in Central Park</a> (September 19, 1981), Simon &amp; Garfunkel <a href="http://youtu.be/STyTIWo-2to">Live at Central Park performance</a> of "Mrs. Robinson" (YT, it's the opening song of the concert).
Previously: <a href="http://www.metafilter.com/tags/paulsimon">Paul Simon</a>; <a href="http://www.metafilter.com/tags/shmoop">Shmoop</a> tag:metafilter.com,2014:site.140871Sat, 12 Jul 2014 21:26:27 -0800joseph conrad is fully awesome■ ■ ■ ■http://www.metafilter.com/140693/The%2DHistory%2Dof%2Dthe%2DCubicle
<a href="http://youtu.be/UCQQ2wxe6fw">The History of the Cubicle</a> [SLYT] [<a href="http://www.metafilter.com/tags/cubicle">Previously</a>] tag:metafilter.com,2014:site.140693Tue, 08 Jul 2014 21:02:48 -0800joseph conrad is fully awesomeBy hook or by crook, we will.http://www.metafilter.com/140657/By%2Dhook%2Dor%2Dby%2Dcrook%2Dwe%2Dwill
A man wearing a dark blazer with white braiding steps out from behind what looks to be a giant white balloon. A <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny-farthing">penny-farthing</a> sits in the foreground. Cheerily, he addresses the camera: "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSI0HU6io7I&index=2&list=PLB9EA0F94DFEB81EC">Hi, I'm Scott Apel, video critic for the <i>San Jose Mercury News</i>, and I'm here to welcome you again to <i>The Prisoner</i>, one of the most intriguing and most talked about television series ever made..."</a> (YT) The following is analysis from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Apel">Scott Apel</a> about the cult TV program, <i>The Prisoner</i>, broadcast circa mid-1980s on KTEH Channel 54 (PBS affiliate in San Jose, California). Analysis consists of two sections: the introductory remarks, and concluding commentary that followed each episode. All links YouTube.
Scott Apel's KTEH Prisoner Commentary
<blockquote>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSI0HU6io7I&index=2&list=PLB9EA0F94DFEB81EC">Arrival</a>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oFsz6-Pn0w&index=2&list=PLB9EA0F94DFEB81EC">Dance of the Dead</a>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGmubS3e03c&index=3&list=PLB9EA0F94DFEB81EC">Checkmate</a>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qo61fpBiGI&index=4&list=PLB9EA0F94DFEB81EC">The Chimes of Big Ben</a>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNIWsq4nJ2A&index=16&list=PLB9EA0F94DFEB81EC">The General</a>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTPfC7Ssu8s&list=PLB9EA0F94DFEB81EC&index=8">A. B. and C.</a>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LE3J-E8_7I&list=PLB9EA0F94DFEB81EC&index=15">The Schizoid Man</a>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fhs8qthjHs&index=17&list=PLB9EA0F94DFEB81EC">It's Your Funeral</a>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3LDlukh_qA&list=PLB9EA0F94DFEB81EC&index=12">A Change of Mind</a>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVX5-vcNan4&index=7&list=PLB9EA0F94DFEB81EC"> Hammer Into Anvil</a>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WASjnRb3bfI&index=5&list=PLB9EA0F94DFEB81EC">Do Not Foresake Me Oh My Darling</a>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCQJQ4HJrwU&index=9&list=PLB9EA0F94DFEB81EC">Living in Harmony</a>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sh9G8hwAv0&list=PLB9EA0F94DFEB81EC&index=6">The Girl Who Was Death</a>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDTQYo8odQ0&list=PLB9EA0F94DFEB81EC&index=11">Once Upon A Time</a>
</blockquote>
Note: Scott Apel's commentary for "Free For All," "Many Happy Returns," and "Fall Out" do not seem to exist at this time on YouTube. You can view KTEH's (and other stations') airing order <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Prisoner_episodes#Episode_list">here</a>.
The official KTEH Public Television Channel 54 videos
<blockquote>
<a href="http://youtu.be/cCa_AeC-zh4">Symbolism</a>
<a href="http://youtu.be/_qW6rSpJQ1Y">The Village</a> (Portmeirion, North Wales)
<a href="http://youtu.be/6azcHJMQIRY">Patrick McGoohan</a>
</blockquote>
Playlist format
<blockquote><a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLB9EA0F94DFEB81EC">Scott Apel Prisoner Intros</a> from xinjeisan
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-Z3T5S3xcUXl0WUWnMf4umNOpddnBum6">The Prisoner - commentary and analysis</a> from spocklogic</blockquote>
<a href="http://www.metafilter.com/tags/theprisoner">Previously</a>
See also: <a href="http://fanfare.metafilter.com/show/the-prisoner">FanFare</a> tag:metafilter.com,2014:site.140657Mon, 07 Jul 2014 20:57:53 -0800joseph conrad is fully awesomeEichler, Cliff May and the invention of the California Ranch Style homehttp://www.metafilter.com/140544/Eichler%2DCliff%2DMay%2Dand%2Dthe%2Dinvention%2Dof%2Dthe%2DCalifornia%2DRanch%2DStyle%2Dhome
The post-war boom gave rise to <a href="http://www.ocmodhomes.com/war-peace-post-wwii-influenced-cliff-may-eichler/">new concepts of modernity in domestic architecture</a> and, of course, massive suburban development. One such concept was the California ranch-style home, pioneered by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cliff_May">Cliff May</a> (1909-1989). Another contemporary architect, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Eichler">Joseph Eichler</a> (1900-1974), had his own vision of modernity in America's new suburbs, but both styles used similar language. At the time, these new designs for living were seen as modern and at the cutting edge of sophistication, but sophistication within reach of the average professional, middle-class family. They were designed to have a practical as well as an aesthetic value. Welcome to mid-century modern. What is "mid-century modern"? Hard to pin down, but here's <a href="http://midcenturymonster.com/about/">one working definition</a>:
<blockquote>"Mid-century modern (or MCM, as it’s often called by pretentious folks like ourselves), is all about straight lines, simple design, open spaces (sometimes), and a good less-is-more mentality."</blockquote>
The time period is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-century_modern">roughly from 1933 to 1965</a>. California was a primary focus for developers of modern suburban architecture that featured <a href="http://freshome.com/2012/08/21/indooroutdoor-connectivity-defining-modern-family-home/">indoor-outdoor connectivity</a>.
One example of an Eichler development is The Rancho San Miguel neighborhood of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walnut_Creek,_California">Walnut Creek, California</a>. <a href="http://www.ranchosanmiguel.org/?page_id=2">The Rancho San Miguel Association website</a> paints the development stage:
<blockquote>"Imagine that it is mid-November 1954. You enter a well-lighted room in Walnut Creek’s old City Hall. You watch and listen as snappily dressed 5’9,” 160 lb. Joseph Eichler puts down his chewed cigar onto a green glass ashtray. He adjusts his dark rimmed thick lens glasses and rises to help two associates lay out their architect’s map showing 563 housing lots on 176 acres adjacent to Ygnacio Valley Road, across from the old Heather Farms Race Track. Eichler has named the tract Rancho San Miguel. The City’s men seem pleased. This, after all, would be the largest tract yet to be developed in Walnut Creek; and Eichler is one of the most respected developers in the West if not the nation. The dapper, ambitious Eichler proposes that his unique and affordable housing will enhance the city’s reputation for luxury living at affordable cost, that it will meet both the city’s and buyers’ desire for comfort and style in a safe suburban neighborhood. The move away from big cities is bringing thousands of new residents: Walnut Creek should be ready."</blockquote>
More can be read about Rancho San Miguel <a href="http://www.eichlernetwork.com/article/eichlers-rancho-san-miguel-walnut-creek">here</a>, as well as at the <a href="http://www.ranchosanmiguel.org/">housing association's website</a>.
Moving to another neighborhood, feast your eyes on <a href="http://modern-bungalow.com/2011/04/04/orange-eichlers/">Orange Eichlers</a> and <a href="http://modern-bungalow.com/2011/05/06/orange-eichlers%C2%B2/">Orange Eichlers<sup>2</sup></a>, located in the <a href="http://www.cityoforange.org/about/">City of Orange</a>.
There are more than 700 Eichler homes in the <a href="http://totheweb.com/eichler/the_highlands.html">San Mateo Highlands</a>, built from 1955 to 1965.
<a href="http://curbed.com/archives/2014/05/01/nab-a-boldly-updated-san-francisco-eichler-for-1425m.php">Not all Eichlers are the same</a>.
Of course there's a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/EichlerHomes">Facebook page</a>, <a href="http://www.pinterest.com/tyau30/eichler-love/">Pininterest</a> <a href="http://www.pinterest.com/billyjoebob/eichler-houses/">pages</a>, and the California-focused <a href="http://www.eichlernetwork.com/">Eichler Network</a> on <a href="https://twitter.com/EichlerNetwork">Twitter</a>.
Eichler Homes are so in demand in California that one real estate agent discusses <a href="http://youtu.be/mx-R_nzd6nc">the problem of supply and demand</a>, and comes up with a solution that is "Eichler-approved". The solution? Surprise, more Eichlers. See <i><a href="http://youtu.be/eHaCrntvRVI">"People in Glass Houses: The Legacy of Joseph Eichler"</a></i>, which explains the fundamental construction differences between a regular house and an Eichler house, and interviews some folks living in these homes.
The distinction of "<a href="http://www.ranchostyle.com/cliffnotes.html">the father of California Ranch home</a>" goes to <a href="http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/2022825/list/Exhibit-Honors-Cliff-May-s-California-Ranch-Style">Cliff</a> <a href="http://www.museum.ucsb.edu/exhibitions/online/cliff-may">May</a> (1909-89), a San Diego college dropout, who designed homes in San Diego and Los Angeles based on the original California horse and cattle ranch homes; these ranch homes had which fewer barriers to the outdoors, and often courtyards. More books, periodicals, and blog posts are listed at the <a href="http://www.ranchostyle.com/clifflibrary.html">Rancho Style Cliff May Library</a>.
Of course there's a <a href="http://www.pinterest.com/shannenofre/cliff-may-the-california-ranch-house/">Cliff May Pininterest page</a> (one of many), and blogs posts. Here's a beautiful summary from the blog, <a href="http://www.midcenturia.com/2011/03/cliff-may-house-alisal-ranch.html">Mid-Centuria</a>:
<blockquote>"What I find most remarkable about [Cliff] May is he never studied architecture in school and was not a registered architect his entire career. He designed and built his first home when he was just 23 after dropping out of San Diego State University where he was studying business and accounting. During his career, May designed over 1,000 custom homes and more than 18,000 tract homes were built following his house models.
"Cliff May's homes embraced the outdoors and Southern California's temperate climate by creating living spaces that blurred the line between indoors and out. His design philosophy was to build out, not up and to create a living environment that was in harmony with the homeowner's California lifestyle. To accomplish this, he often integrated exposed beam ceilings, open floor plans and floor to ceiling windows which made the interior feel unconfined, livable and airy &mdash; as if you were actually outdoors."</blockquote>
Another admirer notes that <a href="http://www.ocmodhomes.com/cliff-may-homes/">Cliff May was doing large-scale prefabrication 60 years before the green movement made it fashionable</a>, and discusses Mays' other inventions.
<a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=cliff+may+experimental+house&rlz=1C1CHMO_enUS563US563&espv=2&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=UAK3U7O_PMPtoAT404KIBQ&ved=0CCQQsAQ&biw=1366&bih=643">The Cliff May Experimental House</a>, built in the 1950s for his own family, was a "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cliff_May_Experimental_House">...one-story, 1800-sf house is a simple rectangle in plan with a 288-square foot open skylight in the center. May's family of five created different rooms by using movable partitions.</a>" May used the family's lived experience from this house to build his next, and last, personal residence, "Mandalay." More about Mandalay, including <a href="http://spfaust.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/cliff-may_mandalay-017.jpg">floorplan</a> and photos, <a href="http://spfaust.wordpress.com/2012/08/05/developer-cliff-mays-last-home-mandalay-old-ranch-road-los-angeles/">here.</a>
American entertainment reflects this movement in design &mdash; you can see the California ranch-style and "mid-century chic" influences in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davey_and_Goliath">Davey and Goliath</a> (1960's stop-motion animated children's Christian TV series), <a href="http://davidbrady.com/times/latbrady.html">The Brady Bunch</a> (TV series, 1969–1974), <i><a href="http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/the-house-from-tom-fords-a-sin-104264">A Single Man</a></i> (2009 film), and <i>Her</i> (2013 film), to name three disparate examples.
The decline of the Ranch-style home began in late 1960s, partly due to changes in taste, and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranch-style_house#Decline">partly because</a>:
<blockquote>"Builders of ranch houses also began to simplify and cheapen construction of the homes to cut costs, eventually reducing the style down to a very bland and uninteresting house, with little of the charm and drama of the early versions. By the late 1970s, the ranch house was no longer the home of choice, and had been eclipsed by the neo-eclectic styles of the late 20th century."</blockquote>
However, the story doesn't end there. There's been a recent <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranch-style_house#Revival_of_interest">revival</a>.
<a href="http://www.metafilter.com/84818/Shoutout-To-All-My-Eichler-Homies">Previously</a> tag:metafilter.com,2014:site.140544Fri, 04 Jul 2014 20:21:24 -0800joseph conrad is fully awesome‘And This Is Free’ (1964)http://www.metafilter.com/139095/And%2DThis%2DIs%2DFree%2D1964
<a href="https://vimeo.com/94208795">A 50 minute documentary about Maxwell Street Market and musicians in Chicago</a> <small>(I interpret the title with an implicit accusatory question mark.)</small> Mike Shea—previously a photographer for <em>Life</em>, <em>Look</em> and <em>Time</em>—directed this exquisitely composed, Frederick Wiseman-esque documentary that lurches between the wiles and complaints of street vendors to some astoundingly well-recorded street side blues performances—recorded by <a href="http://www.kartemquin.com/about/gordon-quinn">Gordon Quinn</a>. Most notably numerous songs by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Nighthawk">Robert Nighthawk</a> and one electrifying performance by Carrie Robinson. There's also one seriously awesome-looking house party. These and others featured on a CD release known <a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/and-this-is-maxwell-street-various-rooster-blues-review-by-derek-taylor.php#.U3POT1hdXKM">"And This Is Maxwell Street"</a> w/ Blind Arvella Gray , Fannie Brewer, Baby Face Leroy, Floyd Jones, and JB Hutto.
Shea would go on to be involved with <a href="http://www.chicagofilmarchives.org/collections/index.php/Detail/Object/Show/object_id/689">the Film Group, who undertook other documentary projects in Chicago</a>. tag:metafilter.com,2014:site.139095Wed, 14 May 2014 13:24:58 -0800zbsachsEat your K rations and like ithttp://www.metafilter.com/136668/Eat%2Dyour%2DK%2Drations%2Dand%2Dlike%2Dit
Hundreds of newsreel and publicity films from the 1940s, 50s, and 60s -- the golden era of instructional, scientific, government, and industry films -- are now available on YouTube via users like <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/Ella73TV2/videos">Ella's Archive</a> (focusing on transport and technology), <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/Val73TV4/videos">Val73TV4</a> (British Council portraits of English towns &amp; more), <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/nuclearvault/videos">NuclearVault</a> (war and diplomacy) and others. <br><br>How about starting with <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHPDughP0eY">The Big Delivery Wagon</a> (1951) a Heinz-sponsored spot about nationwide food distribution? Or ‪<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dk5PVUaZ9Kc">Native Foods: Commandments For Health</a> (1945)‬, a U.S. Navy animated training film featuring Private McGillicuddy, who neither likes Vienna sausage nor seems to know that local foods are full of "poison more treacherous than a Jap warlord." Maybe <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9kUnUmr6nA">Choosing For Happiness</a> (1950) has some choice dating tips for even today's women? Or show your kid <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4z_o4phDKU">Defense Against Invasion</a> (1943) in which a doctor explains to a fearful child exactly why he ought to get immunized. tag:metafilter.com,2014:site.136668Sat, 15 Feb 2014 00:54:55 -0800spamandkimchiLa-La Landhttp://www.metafilter.com/136380/La%2DLa%2DLand
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0KE5mAiDs-tJnkYb0tsoJ6KhRLWsH01A">Vintage Los Angeles</a> is Alison Martino's YouTube channel featuring a look back at Los Angeles during the 40s, 50s, 60s, and 70s</a>. There's an accompanying <a href="http://martinostimemachine.blogspot.com">blog</a> and a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/VintageLosAngeles">facebook</a> page, too. tag:metafilter.com,2014:site.136380Wed, 05 Feb 2014 16:38:46 -0800Room 641-AHey Se&#0241;orita, I'm hot as hellhttp://www.metafilter.com/135950/Hey%2DSeorita%2DIm%2Dhot%2Das%2Dhell
About fifty years ago, the governor of Indiana received a letter complaining about obscenity in the lyrics of a rock'n'roll song, and passed that letter on to the FBI. For the following two years, FBI agents examined potential lyrics of the song (which were incomprehensible on the recording, partly due to the singer's braces) to find grounds for an obscenity prosecution. They ultimately failed, but produced a 140-page report, listing numerous possible obscene readings of what the lyrics could be, and in doing so, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/jan/23/louie-louie-ultimate-rock-rebel-anthem">turned Louie Louie by The Kingsmen from a footnote into a bona fide rock'n'roll rebel anthem</a>. Louie Louie was based on a song written in 1957 by a R&amp;B singer named Richard Berry (of no relation to either Chuck Berry or what is now known as R&amp;B), which in turn was based on a calypso song titled El Loco Cha Cha, written by a bandleader from pre-revolutionary Cuba. Berry had toured the Pacific Northwest, where his songs had inspired covers and imitations by local bands, a game of Telephone which eventually resulted in the Kingsmen's song of the same name.
The FBI investigation of Louie Louie, which occurred in an era of moral panic, coming in the wake of the McCarthy Red Scare and the early days of the parent-scaring phenomenon known as rock'n'roll, ironically, catapulted the song from imminent obscurity (soon after it came out, its sound would have been rendered obsolete by the tide of Beatlemania and the British Invasion) and had turned it into a bona fide rebel anthem. Over the years, interpreters such as Iggy Pop, Henry Rollins and The Clash would pick up this ditty from a more innocent age and record their own versions, filling in the blanks with mundane vulgarities of their own devising (and a few cribbed from the FBI report), to varying effects. tag:metafilter.com,2014:site.135950Thu, 23 Jan 2014 17:06:43 -0800acb